Yazidi community takes chance to rebuild

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/04/2018 (2732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A community that has been persecuted abroad, faced genocide, and languished in refugee camps is beginning to build a future in Winnipeg.

Operation Ezra, a multi-faith coalition spearheaded by a number of local Jewish organizations privately sponsoring Yazidi refugees to come to Winnipeg, welcomed its 10th and final family, sponsored in 2017, to the city on March 29.

Shireen Khudida, an 83-year-old matriarch, arrived at the Richardson International Airport with her seven family members from Turkey where they were greeted by over a hundred members of Operation Ezra and the Yazidi community, followed by a long awaited embrace from her daughter Khokhe Murad and grandchildren who arrived just over a year ago.

“It was a much anticipated arrival because she hadn’t seen her mother in a couple of years,” said Michel Aziza, a volunteer organizer with Operation Ezra.

Operation Ezra was formed in March 2015 after Nafiya Naso, who came to Winnipeg as a refugee about 17 years ago, reached out to the Jewish community to raise awareness of the violence Yazidi people (a religious ethnic minority) were facing in the Mount Sinjar region of Iraq.

In August 2014, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant launched an attack on the Yazidi community. According to Operation Ezra, an estimated 5,000 Yazidi people were killed, 50,000 displaced and thousands more remain hostages. In June 2016, the United Nations declared that the actions of ISIL constitutes a genocide against the Yazidi people.

Since March 2015, Operation Ezra has brought 55 people to Winnipeg and has raised nearly $600,000 to cover the costs of private sponsorship. The first family arrived in July 2016 and many of the 55 refugees have settled in the Grant Park and Earl Grey area.

According to Aziza, the Yazidi community is now looking to take the lead in the settlement and welcoming of new arrivals.

Some of the families that have been in Winnipeg for over a year have found work, speak some English, and are able to run errands either by public transportation or with their own vehicles and are offering their time to help make the transition to Canadian life smoother.

“There’s an immediate community support infrastructure that’s ready for them,” Aziza said. “We’re starting to see a lot more involvement on their part in terms of helping the newer families settle.

“There’s such a community feeling now.”

Fawaz Smoqy arrived in Winnipeg just under a year ago through the efforts of Operation Ezra. The 22-year-old is currently taking English courses through MITT and works part time at Fionn MacCool’s in Grant Park, and, after living in a refugee camp for three years, hopes to finish his high school diploma in Winnipeg.

“It’s been a great year, I’ve met a lot of really good people throughout the year,” Smoqy said in Kurdish through an interpreter. “For me and my family we didn’t feel like strangers into this new country. We feel like we’ve been here much longer than a year.”

Between classes, he’s also been volunteering his time to help orient government-sponsored Yazidi refugees to life in the city, teaching them about the bus system, translating, and taking them grocery shopping. He said the local Yazidi community is getting more organized and are supporting each other in many ways.

“It’s for humanity,” Smoqy said. “I was there too and I know what it’s like to not speak English and to not know how to take the bus. It’s the right thing to do.”

Unlike Operation Ezra sponsored refugees, many government-sponsored refugees rely on settlement agencies to help them start life in the city. According to Aziza, a number of government-sponsored Yazidis have reached out to Operation Ezra for additional support. The coalition is currently providing food and some financial assistance to about 25 families and is in conversation with the government about providing further settlement support.

“We’re dropping off food not because it was our plan, but because they were asking for help,” Aziza said.  

Naso, who has been employed by Jewish Child and Family Services as a settlement worker for Operation Ezra, said while there is more work to be done, it’s incredible to see how the Yazidi community has rebounded in Manitoba.  

“I think about two years ago and how small it was and how fast it grew. When you think about it, we saved 55 lives. Really it’s incredible,” she said.

“I see them almost every day… and they just can’t thank us enough,” she added. “I tell them you don’t have to thank anybody, just try to pay it forward whenever you can.”

Over the coming months, Operation Ezra is planning to bring 20 more refugees to the city and will continue to provide support to government-sponsored families, while also raising funds to send aid to Iraq.

In some cases, Aziza says the refugees are putting what extra money they’ve been able to earn back into the cause with the hope of bringing more Yazidis to the city.

“Operation Ezra’s objective was always to do as much as we could and then at some point in time, facilitate the coming together of the community, so they could start — just as the Jewish community did years ago — to provide support and get to the point where families themselves want to be involved in the settlement piece, and even the sponsorship of new families coming.”

“I don’t want to understate the impact the new families are having,” Aziza said. “With their being able to participate and wanting to participate financially, we can do a lot more than we would otherwise.”